CHARLATAN (2020): Cinematographer Martin Strba Talks Visual Storytelling

Cinematographer Martin Strba Talks Visual Storytelling in Charlatan

In a recent interview Martin Strba, the cinematographer behind the Czech Republic’s Oscar submission Charlatan, spoke at length about the challenges that went into filming the movie with Variety‘s Will Tizard.

Directed by Agnieszka Holland, Charlatan follows the story of a folk medicine practitioner Jan Mikolásek, who is persecuted by both the Nazis and the Soviets. Strba said that when he first read the script he “knew right away that it would be necessary to react visually to the nonlinear way it’s told. It was a big challenge because Agnieszka did not want the time planes to be separated too obviously.” Strba added that during the Soviet takeover period, the “prison and trial [scenes] would be desaturated. I wanted to say that in some ways it was an even colder time than the onset of fascism. During the World War II period a certain harmony culminates in the relationship between Mikolasek and his assistant. That’s why I added color saturation for that period.”

Asked asked about his prior work with Holland on the HBO series Burning Bush, where he created an “evocative 60s look” Strba said, “What looks sophisticated is often very simple in its infancy. Agnieszka and I had a desire to make this project black and white but the producer, HBO, did not agree, so we decided to go the way of desaturated colors, sometimes more, sometimes less, in accordance with the nature of the scenes.”

When Tizard asked how his working relationship with Holland changed with Charlatan, he replied “In the preparation phase, of course, we forwarded reference films that ‘synchronized’ our taste, but when the shooting was approaching, Agnieszka declared, ‘Stop!’ She ran down to the corner to the bakery for fantastic goodies, before that she cooked something delicious and we went for it. As she served coffee, she seemed to intuitively feel that I had too much on my shoulders; she came up to me unexpectedly from behind, buried her fingers in my stiff shoulders, and said, ‘It’ll be fine, dear.'”

Strba also spoke about his preference for ALEXA cameras in filming. “The Alexa is closest to film. And the older I get, the more I come to natural light. Even in scouting, I thought about where the sun will move, on which side the windows are oriented, and I worked very intensively with the production designer Milan Bycek on the character of the interior light sources like lamps, chandeliers, fire, candles and Mikolasek’s special lamp, which stands in for the sun as he examines a patient’s urine.”

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